Destiny
by JAMES-THE-IDIOT
Summary: "I'm not evil, just misunderstood." When Skeletor takes a young girl and raises her to be loyal to him, he never expected this. Based on the 1983 version of He-Man. T because of swearing and torture. Nothing graphic.
1. The Story Begins

**Hello guys so I was digging around and found one of my old stories. I've decided to publish what was written down. I don't currently have a beta and I'm typing this all on mobile so I apologize if there are mistakes. If you want to beta for me you can PM me. If you see mistakes feel free to tell me and I'll fix them. Ok on to the story injoy :).**

She was lost. She knew it and she knew that no one would answer her cry for help. She saw a mountain in the distance with a group of people in front of it. The mountain was dark, nearly black, and there was what looked like a snake carved around the mountain with an open mouth at the top. Being 5 she didn't know that she wasn't supposed to go there. All she knew was she was cold, hungry, and lost. She stopped for a minute to catch her breath. Most of the small crowd departed, leaving a woman and a large, purple cat behind.

She ran to the woman. She was about to ask for help but the cat growled and pounced on her. She cried out in alarm.

" Now Panthor, she's no threat to us." The woman crooned. The cat got off of her and she pushed herself up off the ground.

" Now what is a little girl like you doing here?" Her voice expressed mock concern.

" I'm lost. Please can you tell me where I am?."

" You're at Snake Mountain my dear, now where are your parents?"

" I don't have any."

" No mother or father." The woman was beginning to scare her. She shooke her head and said " No my mother disappeared shortly after I was born and my father died a few days ago." The woman gave a smile that was obviously fake. "My name is Evil-Lyn. What's yours?"

" I don't have one."

" Of course you do, everyone does."

" Not me. My father just called me girl and my mother disappeared without giving me a name. My father was too lazy to name me."

" Come with me." Evil-Lyn reached out a hand. " We'll see if we can find your mother." The little girl accepted her hand.

The woman led her into Snake Mountain. They soon came to a large door. " Wait here. I need to talk to someone first." The girl nodded and released Evil-Lyn's hand. Evil-Lyn turned and went inside. The girl waited patiently in the hallway.

Evil-Lyn had a plan for this little girl. She walked into Skeletor's throne room. As always he was preoccupied with his viewing crystal. He looked up at her when she walked into the room. " That stupid Hordak seems to enjoy raising that little girl he took." He said simply.

" Have you decided what you are going to do about him?"

"No, but I have decided to remain here on Eternia."

"Oh, why?"

"I should be able to conquer this world easily. King Randor and his men have relaxed they think it's over."

"What about his son Adam has Hordak tried to take him again?"

"No. I doubt he will. It's been six years since he left me here and he still hasn't tried to take him again."

"Skeletor, I found a young girl outside who may be of some use to you."

"Oh really?"

"She is lost. She has no idea who her mother is and her father has died. If we can convince her that I am her mother and you her new father, she could help you with your revenge."

"Sounds interesting Evil-Lyn. Tell me more." He sat down on his throne. "She is young it will be easy to make her completely loyal to you. You could use her to get to Prince Adam and once he has fallen for her you can use him to get the throne. Of course it will take time, she will need to mature first."

The girl waited outside for some time before Evil-Lyn returned. "You can come in now." Evil-Lyn's voice was gentle and soft. The girl walked in. The room was dark and there were lava pools around the edges of the room. In the center of the room there was a table with some kind of ball on its serface. On the far side of the room was a throne which appeared to be made of bone. Sitting on the throne was a man with a skeleton for a face. "Well, well my dear. Welcome to Snake Mountain." He paused a minute before continuing. "Using this vision crystal we were able to find your mother."

"Really?" The girl said her heart jumping.

"Yes and you've already met her." He gestured to Evil-Lyn. "This is your mother."

The girl turned to Evil-Lyn who said "And I was right young daughter, you do have a name. You were born Destiny and this" She pointed at the man on the throne. "Is your new father. Skeletor." Destiny smiled, finally having a mother and a name.

"Welcome home, Destiny. Now, your mother will give you a tour and a room."


	2. Fatefull Encounters

**Okay so I just realized I forgot to put a discaimer in the first chapter so...** **Disclaimer: I do not own He-Man or any of its characters. I only own my OC named Destiny. Ok chapter 2 up and on with the story.**

~~~

As Destiny grew older she became increasingly beautiful. She was also extremely skilled in combat and magic. Her favourite trick was changing her appearence. When she was using her magic for her own entertainment she had blonde hair and blue eyes, but when she was engaged in combat she had black hair and red eyes. For the rest of the time she had brown hair and green eyes.

Skeletor had made sure she was well trained and taught. She had been taught the trades of everyone in Snake Mountain. Skeletor always administered the punishments and some of the rewards for failure and success.

Skeletor and the others were always angry about someone named He-Man. They wouldn't tell her at first why they hated him so, but once they did she hated him too. She was 17 now and Skeletor had devised a plan to get to one of He-Man's friends. They wouldn't tell her what it was only that they had been perfecting it for quite some time.

"We'll tell you soon daughter, but for now just be patient." Evil-Lyn was the only one who treated her as a girl at the age of 17 where as everyone else was treating her as some kind of weakness that must be strengthened.

Skeletor had brought her a dress, it was a simple form fitting grey dress with a silver band across the waist on the front of the band was a gold circle when she pressed the center of the circle it transformed the dress into a black dress armor. She loved the dress and always wore it.

Skeletor often gave her small jobs to do in Snake Mountain, it usually meant cleaning up after Beastman. She finally got something to do when they captured someone called Adam who was the prince of Eternia.

~~~

"Destiny. I want you to clean the dungeon hallway. Merman was in there earlier and left some smelly mud behind." Skeletor commanded. Destiny had not yet discovered that Prince Adam was in there. "Yes Father." Destiny said as she turnes to leave the room. As the door closed behind her Skeletor spoke to Evil-Lyn. "This better work witch."

"It will Skeletor. She has the ability to shut her emotions off as well as disguise herself."

"I've put too much planning in this girl of yours, if she fails, you along with her will take the blame."

~~~

Destiny found the cleaning supplies and went to the dungeon. Skeletor wasn't kidding the place completely stunk. As always she was wearing the dress Skeletor gave her with the grey side showing. Her hair was gold and her eues were a startling shade of blue. She touched a gold amulet that was around her neck and music began to play from it. She hummed as she worked, not paying any attention to her surroundings, nor to the man in the cell who was watching her.

"You have a very pretty voice." The man said. "Oh!" She turned with a start dropping the mop as she did so.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't scare me, I just didn't know anyone was down here." She said as she felt the heat rise to her cheeks. "And I have work to do so please don't talk to me. I don't want Skeletor angry with me." The man looked like he was going to say something but Skeletor's evil laugh cut him off. "You won't get her to help you Prince Adam. She's too afraid to do anything that I don't want her to do."

"Skeletor!" She and Adam said at the same time causing her to look down at her feet to hide a small smile. "Destiny you will do this later, I have something to talk to Prince Adam about." She nodded and quickly left the dungeons.

"There's no way of escape Prince Adam. Not even He-Man could break those bars."

"Oh really, and what makes you think he will come?"

"He'll come, he's too stupid not to. The only way out is if one of my more reliable henchmen opens it. No one else knows how."

 *** Her armor in my mind looks like Xena the warrior princesses armor.**

 **And I know two chapters in one day is more than I originally intended but I couldn't sleep so I typed out the second chapter. Please review later guys I'm going to sleep... Hopefully.**


	3. I couldn't think of a clever name

**Okay I probably shouldn't post as much as I am but the chapters are so short I don't really care. Here ya go chapter 3.**

Destiny paced around her room. How dare he call her afraid. She was afraid of no one. Worse still he called her afraid whilst in the presence of a prisoner. She wasn't going to let it go, she would get her revenge. All she had to do was wait for the right moment.

She walked out of her room and headed for the dungeons. The alarm sounded causing her to jump. She ran towards the throne room to see what was going on. she hid in the shadows so that they wouldn't know that she was there.

"Is it He-Man?" She heard Tri-Clops ask. "No it's that dolt Man-At-Arms and his pesky daughter." Now that she knew what was going on she knew she had no time to waste, she ran to the dungeons making sure to stay out of sight.

By the time she got there Adam was no longer alone. A man in body armor and a red-headed woman were already there. They were having trouble with the cell door. She moved foward but the woman raised a sword threateningly at her. Destiny paused for a moment but soon continued coming to a stop beside the cell. She placed her hand in a small crack beside the cell door and pushed the release button it was impossible to do unless you already knew it was there. The cell door opened and the man stepped out. The woman lowered her sword. "Thank you." The man said. Destiny nodded and said "I have a friend who will meet you on your way out. She can help you avoid Skeletor and his brainless minions." She then turned and walked away without saying another word. She heard someone call after her but she ignored them.

She walked into a closet and tapped the circle on her dress, changing her hair and eyes at the same time. When she walked out of the closet she was well-armed her hair was black and her eyes were scarlette. She had put a red streak in her hair on the right side.

She started moving quickly through the labyrinth of tunnels. She soon found the trio and cleared her throat. They turned around to face her. As she was in battle form they didn't recognize her. "Are you the friend we were told about?" She nodded "Yes I am Akuma." She didn't want to give them her real name. "Follow me, I know the secret ways in and out of Snake Mountain." She led the way through the labyrinth of tunnels looking back every once in a while to make sure they were keeping up. They soon came to a stop in a dead end. "So you were leading us into a trap?" The red-headed woman snapped. She rolled her eyes. "Oh sure. It's a perfect trap I'm outnumbered three to one. Yeah it's a brilliant trap." She said sarcastically. She moved to the left side of the wall. "There's a tunnel over here that leads straight out it was opened during a storm last year. Skeletor doesn't know about it." She turned into a small cave that they hadn't noticed before. The trio glanced at each other and quickly followed.

After a minute of the dark tunnel they were outside. "I'm sure you can find your way from here. I have to check on Destiny."

"Who's Destiny?"

"The one who told me to help you. If I know anything she's probably being escourted to Skeletor right now. Don't worry" She said seeing their expressions at the mention of Skeletor. "I can fight Skeletor blindfolded. I've done it before." She turned and ran back inside through the tunnel. Once she was out of their sight she changed her outfit and appearance to the simple grey dress and her blonde hair and blue eyes.

 **So this marks the end of chapter 3 it will be a few days before I post again so enjoy the rest of your weekend :)**


	4. Finally A Chance

**Ok guys sorry about the wait I had to rewrite this one before I could post it. Thanks to KatherineBud15 for checking this one over. Enjoy :)**

Destiny walked calmly into Skeletor's throne room. He was sitting down and he looked pissed. "Did you help them escape?"

"Yes."

"Why did you help them escape?" Skeletor demanded angrily. "Why did you say I was afraid of you? You don't scare me, you've never scared me." Destiny said in a calm and even tone that surprised even her. "Oh I don't, do I? We'll have to see about that." He spat viciously.

 *** two weeks later ***

Skeletor tried everything he knew about torture. No matter what he did she refused to show fear. She was as sarcastic as she could be, even long after she had lost her voice from screaming. She insulted him, refusing outright to give into him.

She didn't regret helping them get out. For one it meant He-Man wouldn't come to Snake Mountain, which in turn would protect the person she desperately had to protect, for another, if the positions were reversed and she had been captured, Skeletor would have hurt her the minute the door was open, but the two who had come to save the prince looked relieved almost happy when they had him and were out of the mountain. And letting them go was also revenge against Skeletor's unnecessary insult to her. She had a feeling there was more to it than simply letting them go, she knew Skeletor he wouldn't have tortured her over that and as far as she knew he didn't have a trap planned, he had just taken the prince because he had wanted to. It was a pointless move. He kept saying he needed her for some old plan and she had to be loyal. As to what that plan was she had no idea.

 *** one month later ***

She could no longer move. She had to be dragged from the dungeons to the throne room and back. She wouldn't last much longer in this hell-hole. She hoped Skeletor would try some stunt to capture He-Man soon or maybe He-Man would try to find her first. "Either would be useful." She thought to herself as the dark dungeons faded from her sight.

Skeletor was furious. She had ruined his plan, the prince was supposed to stay he wanted Destiny to bring him food and drink. Skeletor had hoped his little insult would annoy her enough to be nice and help the prince by giving him better meals or talking to him. He hadn't expected her to free him. That had ruined everything, he hadn't stayed long enough to love her. That was clear when no one showed up to help her. Now it seemed as if he had pushed her too far, it had gone beyond a simple punishment, now he had to force her to be loyal again. He had to scare her into submission, then he had to find a way to try the original plan again.

In the meantime he needed something to do. His minions were becoming bored. He had to find something for them to occupy themselves. A bad plan leading to a terrible defeat on their end would deter them for a while at least.

~~~

Teela woke with her head pounding. She tried to focus through the pain trying to remember where she was or how she had gotten here.

"Oh that's right." She said to herself. She had been checking some strange readings in the crimson valley. She had been worried that somehow the seal around Dark Dream had been tampered with. Skeletor had shown up and grabbed her she remembered him shouting at her father and Adam to send He-Man to get her. She sat up and looked around her. She was on the floor in a cell. It was dark and she took a minute to let her eyes adjust. She could see another cell across from her, there was someone in it but she couldn't tell who. Was it someone else Skeletor had taken in order to trap He-Man? Teela didn't recognize the figure. They were extremely thin all skin and bone they, clearly, had been here for a while. Then Teela noticed the torn pale grey dress and dull blonde hair. She gasped as it finally clicked on who the figure was. "Destiny?" She asked softly in case someone was nearby. There was blood stains on her dress and dried blood in her hair. "Destiny." Teela whispered a little louder.

Destiny heard someone whisper her name but she no longer had the strength to move. She tried to identify the voice but they were whispering. It sounded like a woman but it wasn't Evil-Lyn. Evil-Lyn wouldn't be whispering. She wanted to ask but the darkness was claiming her again. "Oh well." She thought to herself. She didn't have a voice anymore anyway.

If Destiny could hear Teela, she didn't reply. Teela thought back to when they first met. She had pointed a sword at the girl. It was clear that she was unarmed but Teela couldn't take the risk. Evil-Lyn had used other forms to trick her before and Teela had learned the hard way not to trust appearances. But the young woman had helped them and now she looked to be in bad shape, most likely as a direct result of her going against Skeletor.

Teela knew she had to get Destiny out of here to somewhere that she could recover and hopefully get some answers, or at least so that Teela could apologize for threatening her with a sword when all the girl wanted to do was help them.


	5. The Rescue

**Ok I would like to apologize to the guest who reviewed, I didn't realize that my account had rigged it so that others couldn't see it. Since then I have fixed that and I would also like thank you for your kind words they inspire me to write more. Also sorry about the wait I've been working and haven't been able to update the story.** **Thanks to KathrineBud15 for editing this story and fixing my mistakes before I humiliated myself.**

 ***Disclaimer; I do not own He-Man I only own my OC Destiny.** **And on with the story. :)**

 **Last Time:** _Teela knew she had to get Destiny out of here to somewhere that she could recover and hopefully get some answers, or at least so that Teela could apologize for threatening her with a sword when all the girl wanted to do was help them._

 **And Now:** Teela was shaken out of her thoughts when an alarm sounded. If there was an alarm it likely meant that He-Man or someone else was coming to rescue her. She walked to the door of her cell, Destiny still wasn't moving. Then Teela realized Destiny's cell was the same one they had put Adam in a month ago, which likely meant the cell would be difficult to open.

He-Man rounded a corner in the dungeons. It was clear that Skeletor had discovered the tunnel that Adam, Man-At-Arms, and Teela had used to escape the last time, judging by the alarms that were currently blaring and echoing off the stone walls.

As he took the last turn that would lead him to the prisoner cells, he saw Teela attempting to look through the bars. "He-Man." She said as he approached the cell. "Don't worry Teela, I'll have you out in a minute." He said as he grabbed the bars and pulled. The door came off with a snap. He turned to lead the way out, but Teela stopped him. "He-Man, please we have to help her too." Teela pointed at Destiny. "Who's this?" He asked grabbing the bars and pulling. "Her name is Destiny. She's the one who helped Adam and us escape last time."

Of course He-Man already knew this, but Teela didn't know that he knew. After a few more seconds of pulling the door broke open with a very loud crack. "It looks like she's in bad shape." He said and he knelt down to pick her up. "We should take her to the Scorceress when we get out." As he stood a voice called out from the shadows behind them. "Skeletor has men on the path you just came from, they are waiting to ambush you as you leave. He knows you have Destiny and he won't let you take her without a fight."

"Who's there?" Teela called.

"I'm a friend of Destiny's. I want to help you get her away from here, away from Skeletor." The voice said. Neither He-Man nor Teela recognized the voice, it sounded almost like a phantom was speaking. "Show yourself." Teela commanded. "No. I cannot reveal myself at this time. What I can do is tell you how to get out of here, without Skeletor's knowledge." Teela and He-Man looked at each other both trying to decide wether or not they should trust the voice. For all they knew the voice was Akuma. It had the same tone and it didn't sound like anyone else they knew from Snake Mountain. "All right." He-Man said "Where do we go?"

"The opposite way. Take the fifth left, then the ninth right, then the second right. You'll come to a dead end, but in the shadows on the right side is a winding tunnel. It's longer than the one you know of. It will let you out on the northern side of the mountain."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't. I can't help her but you can, the choice is yours. I hope you remember the directions because I won't repeat them."

They heard rapid footsteps retreating down a passage to their left. "Wait!" He-Man called, but the steps continued until they faded out. "So now the question is, do we trust whoever that was?" Teela asked.

"I think we should. They might be afraid to show themselves after what happened to Destiny, and I don't think anyone in Snake Mountain would have spoken to us, it seems more likely they would attack us instead."

They followed the directions and soon came to the dead end. Just as promised, there was a tunnel on the right hand side. With a little difficulty on He-Man's part, they got through the opening to find the tunnel was, thankfully, wider than the opening.

The voice wasn't lying when they had said the tunnel was long and winding. It took several minutes before they saw the outside of Snake Mountain. Once they were outside, He-Man called for Battle Cat who a moment later ran roaring up to them. They got on Battle Cat's back and took off towards Castle Grayskull.

"Are you certain that she can be trusted, He-Man?" The Scorceress asked as she healed the wounds on the small woman. "Honestly, I'm not sure, but I doubt she has any plans on taking over Castle Grayskull. Even a small dog could take her down as she is now."

"Still it would be wise to keep an eye on her." Teela said softly. "We don't know what her motives were for helping us in the past." Teela hated her words but she knew that even though she felt she owed Destiny an apology, she still had to ensure the safety of her friends.

"After I have healed her wounds, she will still need time to recover her strength." The Scorceress stated.

"We could take her to the palace, once it's safe for us to do so." He-Man said.

"I agree." Teela said simply. "I'll go on ahead to the palace and see if the King, Queen, and my father will agree to it."

"Take Battle Cat and let us know how they respond." He-Man said as she turned to leave. Teela nodded in response and Battle Cat followed her to the castle's drawbridge. Shortly after she was gone, a belt in another room, deeper in the castle, began to glow and float through the old grey halls.


	6. A New Beginning

**Ok so sorry for not uploading in forever. A lot of the story had to be rewritten. Thanks to KathrineBud15 for helping with this chapter and making sure I don't humiliate myself :D.**

 ** _*Disclaimer* I still don't own He-Man. Alas. I just own my OC._**

~~~

When Destiny woke she knew, without opening her eyes, that she was no longer in Snake Mountain. She was on a soft bed and there was a light and even with her eyes closed she could tell that it was bright. The air smelled of fruit, flowers, and fresh bread.

She opened her eyes slowly, only to close them again when the light proved too bright for her eyes to handle. There was the sound of rapid footsteps and the light was no longer as bright.

She opened her eyes again and looked around taking in her surroundings. She was in a room with yellow walls . It was daylight but close to sunset judging by the light level filtering in through the white drapes. There was a lamp that looked like a glowing orb on a small table on her left.

She was under a rather comfotable quilt that was white with yellow diamond patterns. She tried to swallow but her throat was too dry, making her cough. Someone held a glass of water to her mouth for her to drink, which she drank gratefully, finishing it quickly.

After she had finished drinking she noticed the people. There were three in the room with her. She recognised two of them. One was the man who had come to rescue the Prince, the other was the redheaded woman who had pointed the sword at her when she went to help them. The woman was on her right holding the empty glass. The man was in front of her by the door just in her line of sight. The third was another man who was on her left side that she did not recognise he was tall, muscular, tan with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore some hind of harness across his chest but the rest of his chest was bare.

"Hello" he said "I am He-Man. This is Teela, " he gestured to the redhead, " and Man-At-Arms" he pointed to the man by the door. She tried to say her name but no sound came out.

He-Man looked at her for a second then said "I was told your name is Destiny." She gave a weak not. 'Where am I?' She tried to say but it seemed her voice had not yet returned. He-Man seemed to understand because he said " You are in the Palace of Eternia. You'll be safe here while you recover. Once you're up to it we hope you'll answer a few questions. ". She said nothing seemingly lost in her own thoughts. A yawn took her by surprise, and the redhead, Teela said. "We'll let you rest for now. We can talk later." Destiny gave a small not as her eyes drifted closed against her will.

~~~

They waited until they were certain Destiny had fallen asleep before they went out into the hall and closed the door.

"I know she helped us in the past," Man-At-Arms said. "but until we know why she helped us rescue Prince Adam we should take a few precautions. I'd like to have a guard remain by the door, just in case she proves to be less than friendly."

"Father," Teela said. "I'd like to stay with her tonight."

"Very well Teela, I'll leave her with you tonight."

"Goodnight Father, Goodnight He-Man." Teela said before turning and going back in the room with Destiny. "I'll be leaving too for now Duncan, unless you think I should stay."

"No, He-Man you can go. I'll call if we need you."

"Goodnight Duncan."

"Goodnight He-Man."

He-Man turned and went down the hallway. When he was sure no one could see him, he held his sword over his head. "Let the Power return." He said in a clear voice. There was a flash of light and Prince Adam stood in his place. He sheathed his sword and walked to his room. His thoughts were on the girl. Her wounds had been severe. If they hadn't shown when they did, she likely would have died before help had arrived. Akuma had said she would protect her, and yet she hadn't. Then there was that voice. It did have the same tone to it as Akuma's but now that he thought about it, it didn't sound like her. Who was it and where had Akuma gone?

Then to add to the confusion the Belt of Destiny had floated to her while they were in Castle Greyskull. Even the Sorceress had seemed surprised. There was more to the girl than met the eye.

He closed the door to his room. He was too tired to dwell on things now. He would try to speak to Destiny tomorrow. Hopefully she would be able to give him some answers. He crawled into bed, turned off the lamp and in moments he was asleep.

~~~

A few hours later his door opened and Cringer crawled in, and curled up at the foot of his bed.


	7. I'll Think Of A Title Name Later

**I know I'm late it took way longer to write this chapter than I thought it would. Thanks to KathrineBud15 for insuring I don't completely humiliate myself. :D** ***I don't own He-Man just Destiny.** **Now onto the story :D**

When she woke the next morning, it took a minute to remember where she was. The first thing she realized was that she felt no pain. She wasn't even a little sore. She felt well rested and comfortable and, oddly, at peace here. ' It's strange' She thought to herself. 'I feel more relaxed here than I ever did at Snake Mountain. These people should be my enemies, so they should have left me in my cell, but instead of leaving me to my fate they saved me.' She didnt know how much longer she would have lasted. ' It's entirely possible I would have died in that cell.'

She opened her eyes, she was still in the brightly colored room, only this time there was no one else in the room with her. Judging by the light coming through the window it was early morning. She slowly sat up. She pushed the blanket off and turned to her left. She saw that someone had left her a glass of water next to the lamp. She picked it up and sniffed it. Even though they had saved her, there was no telling what they would do to get information. When she didn't see or smell anything dangerous, she took a long drink before placing the glass back where it was.

She stood up and noticed that there was a mirror she hadn't noticed before. She quietly walked up to it. What she saw looking back at her, shocked her. Her old gray dress was torn and stained, it looked beyond repair. She was unnaturally thin and could see her bones poking through her skin. Her dress looked to big for her now. Her hair which had always looked like liquid gold, now looked pale and more silvery blonde. Her eyes were red and the blue irises looked almost faded. She was deathly pale. She looked like a ghost of herself. Unable to stand it any longer, she turned away. She walked to the window and looked out.

The view was spectacular. She couldn't see snake mountain from here, instead she saw a lush green field and flowers. In the distance she saw a beautiful forest, bright with color. She looked down and saw what she assumed was the courtyard. It was beautiful. She hadn't been outside Snake Mountain since she found Evil-Lyn.

A quiet knock at the door startled her. She didn't say anything, hoping to be left alone a little longer to gather her thoughts. Her wish wasn't granted and the door opened anyway.

Teela walked in holding a tray of food and some cloth. She looked surprised when she saw Destiny by the window. "Oh! I didn't know you were awake. I brought you some breakfast." Teela said as she walked to the table. She placed the tray next to the glass of water. She placed the cloth on the bed. Destiny said said nothing as she watched Teela's movements.

"Come on. You must be hungry. You're so thin that if you turn sideways, you might just disappear." Destiny smiled and sat down on the bed. She took the tray of food and inspected it. It was a simple breakfast, there was eggs and toast, but there was a small stack of something she didn't know. It was thin, circular, and covered in some sort of sweet smelling syrup. Nothing looked dangerous so she picked up the fork and poked the stack, liking at Teela. "Those are pancakes. It's a recipe that Queen Mariana gave the chef when she first came here." Teela said with a smile. Destiny looked back at the stack and cut a small piece off and ate it. It was delicious and she quickly finished of the stack before moving to the eggs and toast. When she was finished she placed the tray back in the table.

"I brought you some clothes to change into. That dress you're wearing has seen better days." Destiny looked down at her dress sadly. "I'll see if we can manage to save it. For now though, I'll leave you to change." Teela said as she stood up and walked to the door. She paused by the door. "I'll be waiting outside the door. Come out when you're ready." Teela left the room, closing the door behind her. Destiny looked around the room again. She was relieved when she didn't see any surveillance.

She picked up the cloth and saw it was a white dress. A pair of matching boots fell out and landed on the bed. The dress seemed to be made of silk. It was a V-neck and the sleeves were loose and flowing. The skirt of the dress had a lace floral pattern and stopped at the knees. It was both modest and beautiful. She glanced around the room again before removing her torn dress, and putting on the white one. She put on the boots before removing the belt from her old gray dress and buckling it around her waist.

Once she had dressed she carefully placed her old gray dress on the bed. She performed a small magic cleaning spell on herself and magically fixing her hair back into a bun. Once she was satisfied she turned and walked out the door.

"Oh good it fits, we had to guess your size." Teela said. Destiny nodded. Teela led Destiny down the hall. "I thought we'd start with a tour."

~~~

Destiny's tour consisted of the throne room, kitchen, banquet hall, and the library. She was silent throughout the tour. When they had run into the king and queen in the throne room she had only given them a small curtsy but for the rest of the tour, she focused more on not getting lost rather than the people she saw.

Teela was currently leading her outside. "This is the palace courtyard." Teela said as she led her out the door. "And over there," Teela pointed to the right, "are the royal gardens." Destiny looked over to the right and saw an open gate with vines and flowers in an arch over it. When she looked behind her, up at the palace she could see her window. 'So I was right about this being the courtyard.' She thought to herself.

Looking around she saw the man, Prince Adam, leaning against a large cat. Judging by it's emerald green coat and yellow stripes is was an Eternian Tiger. It was sleeping while Adam had apparently been reading, but had looked over at the sound of Teela's voice. There were two others in the courtyard. One was a young boy about ten years old with brown hair, the other was a floating figure. The figure had it's back to her. It's outfit looked like it could be a red shirt on a human but on the figure it l was more like a dress that went past it's feet, if it even had feet. It also wore a red pointed hat. From where she was she could see he had light blue pointed ears that were poking through ear holes in his hat. He to raised his arm out and she saw his hand was also light blue.

She turned her gaze back to the Prince and the tiger. The Prince stood up and the tiger opened his eyes for a moment before shifting his position and falling back asleep. The Prince walked over. "Hello again. I'm glad to see you up and moving around." She gave a Prince a small smile but kept her eyes on the tiger. "Don't worry about him. That's Cringer, he wouldn't hurt a fly."

As if to prove his point a butterfly landed on his nose. Cringer opened his eyes, let out a loud yowl and ran up the tree he had just been sleeping under. This was apparently normal cause everyone laughed. "Cringer its just a butterfly." A squeaky voice said, which Destiny realized was coming from the floating figure. "Get down ya big scaredy cat."

"I c-can't!" The tiger cried. Destiny had never heard a tiger speak before. The branch the tiger was clinging to suddenly broke and the tiger landed on the ground with a loud crash. He sat up and started sulking under the tree.

"Come on guys, its almost time for lunch." Teela said with a smile. "Oh! I'll race you Cringer." The figure said excitedly. Cringer mumbled something that Destiny couldn't hear. "Ok Cringer, suit yourself." The figure said before disappearing with a pop.

Cringer stood slowly and walked over to them. "Cringer this is Destiny." Adam said. "Destiny this is Cringer." Destiny smiled and tentatively reached her hand out to stroke his head. The fur on his head was soft but became course as she got to his neck. She had an amused look on her face when she scratched behind his ears and he purred. "Oh, I-I like you." He said.

"Come on guys, we'll be late." Teela said from the doorway. They followed Teela back into the palace.

Destiny was quiet throughout the meal. When someone would try to get her to talk she would stare at her lap until the conversation moved away from her. The food was great but Destiny ate very little, being unused to having more than one meal a day. After a while the floating figure decided to perform a few magic tricks which ended up covering Man-At-Arms with juice from several different types of berries much to his annoyance and everyone else's amusement.

After lunch she learned the figures name was Orko and he did almost the same thing to Cringer at dinner.

When Teela walked her back to her room that night she paused by the door. "Listen, I wanted to apologize for raising a sword at you back at Snake Mountain." Teela said. Destiny shook her head. While she didn't say anything it was clear to Teela that Destiny understood and was telling her that she had no reason to apologise.

During the three days that Destiny stayed at the palace she never spoke, but she was completely happy. The guard remained by her door at night but for the rest of the time she was able to move freely through the palace. She spent most of her time at the library and the courtyard. She read whichever stories and books someone suggested. She was starting to look a lot healthier and regained her lost weight very quickly. Man-At-Arms thought that her magic had started to cannibalize her body when she wasn't allowed to have proper meals while her body healed from Skeletor's torture.

~~~

 _Meanwhile back at Snake Mountai_ n.

~~~

Skeleton watched the events on the vision crystal in his throne room. Destiny had been at the palace for three days now. Surely the plan had recovered now. After all He-man had "saved" her from him. Skeleton knew he had to get her back before she decided to switch sides. He could tell that she was starting to like them and trust them. If she stayed any longer his plan would likely backfire and she would betray him. They would march to the palace tomorrow and take her back. By force if it became necessary. He called the others in to explain the plan.

~~~

After breakfast on the forth morning, Skeletor decided to come and get her back. Destiny, Adam, Cringer, Teela and Orko had been out in the courtyard. Skeletor had brought his army with him. Once the guards spotted them they raised the alarm. Destiny knew immediately what was going on and a sad look crossed her face. As soon as the alarm was raised Adam and Cringer ran into the gardens. Destiny didn't want to go back but she knew she had to. She ran after Adam and Cringer. She wanted to tell them it would be okay, that she would go willingly. When she found them in the garden, Cringer was cowering and Prince Adam was holding his sword over his head. "By the power of Greyskull!" He called. There was a bright flash of light and He-Man stood in his place. "I HAVE THE POWER!" He said before pointing his sword at the quivering Cringer. There was another flash and Cringer grew and got a red helmet that covered his head and a red saddle on his back. He let out a fierce roar and turned and saw her watching.

~~~

He-Man placed his sword back into the sheath on his back. He turned to Battle-Cat, but Battle-Cat was looking wide-eyed at something on his right. He-man turned and saw Destiny looking at them. He knew from the expression on her face that she had seen them change.


End file.
